The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Your academic institution is part of your Service Agreement, so in theory - yes - but you will need to submit a Service Agreement Amendment Request (SAAR) and have it approved by SMART.

kyleculus wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 18, 2021 3:31 pm

Is there by any chance you're in the Discord server that was recently started?

Joined this morning. Don't want to post my Discord un on an open forum. I'm listed at 8:59 AM (CST) in the #new-members channel. Feel free to send me a message or @ me in one of the channels.

do you happen do know where PhD graduates will enter on the GS pay scale? Somebody with a PhD should never be below GS-11. You will have literally a year of work time after all your internships, so you could reasonably push for a GS-12 or at the very least several steps. Starting grade may be deter...

Two questions as I'm trying to finalize how this will look. 1) Does the 1099-MISC issued by SMART include the tuition payment made to the school? No, it does not. You should be able to go back through bank statements for tax year 2020 and add up your stipends and allowances to the exact amount in y...

Any negotiations you have with your SF are on the basis of good faith and will not be binding. As per the service agreement, you will have to accept your position at whatever rate you are offered. Be confident you can trust the SF to treat you well. Try to get a feel for the work environment and you...

So my question is, is there any way to switch SFs? Has anyone done it successfully? Yes, but afaik it's only something that's allowed if circumstances force the situation (abusive workplace environment, SF no longer able to hire you, etc.). If you do not want to work for your SF, you should not acc...

However, my largest concern is not being able to finish my degree in 5 years. Will there be huge repercussions if I were to take an extra half year to a year to complete my degree? Hey! Unfortunately, there's no way to know. There are essentially two possibilities: They put you on a sort of probati...

Hey, everybody. I'm a PhD student who's been with SMART for a couple years now, and I know a lot of you are in the process of receiving offers, so I just wanted to offer some thoughts. SMART has a rough history. You should know that going in. IMO, they seem to have gotten better in recent years, but...

It's entirely possible. I myself was a second-round pick. So don't give up, but also don't pin your self-worth on a scholarship. It stinks not to get something you hoped for, but it's part of the process. I have sent off LOTS of unsuccessful scholarship/fellowship/grant applications during my educat...

Can you tell me where, "they make it very clear you are not being compensated for services rendered??" By implication in handbook section 5.4.7(g) [not an employee of the federal government]: "Such scholars who are not otherwise employed by the Federal Government shall not be considered Federal emp...

Interesting! My understanding previously was that fellowship income is considered "unearned income" and didn't qualify as "taxable compensation," (obviously taxable, but less obviously compensation) but it looks like that assumption was wrong. Until a year ago, it was. This is a very new developmen...

Typical caveat on all this: I'm not a tax pro and I'm not giving tax advice. This is from my experience wrestling with taxes as a scholar and doing my own browsing through the various IRS pubs. What about kiddie tax? From what I can tell, the 1099-Misc Box 3 is counted as unearned income which will ...

IMO it means your committee failed you. You shouldn't be allowed to schedule a defense you aren't set to pass. If you have a date set, and your advisor isn't a psycho, I wouldn't worry too much. But should the worse come to pass, yes, you can ask for an extension. SMART may grant it or may put you i...

You cannot be on another federal scholarship/fellowship while on SMART (section 5.2.1 of handbook). GEM is private but receives federal grants, so I would ask SMART. When I asked about outside work, I was told I could not receive money derived from any federal billet. It's still kind of fuzzy, so I ...

All 1099-MISC. Definitely never a W-2, they make it very clear you are not being compensated for services rendered. The exact type of income is non-compensatory. It should appear on a 1099-MISC and is not subject to self-employment tax. Yes, the ISPs should appear in the same group as all other SMAR...

The general answer is that your service agreement is to your SF, not the DoD at large. You would probably need to ask SMART's permission before transferring to another facility unless you could be on PCS/TDY while still on the payroll of your SF. As for the possibility of relocation after you've com...

FYI for anybody else waiting, I received my approval. So that makes for ~1 week from submission to approval..

This is a question for SMART directly. Based on the handbook, probably not because it is a federally funded fellowship. I was told I pretty much can't take any opportunity that stems from the federal government, including contractors, when I was looking for alternatives after our internships were ca...

It's totally feasible, really just depends on how on quickly your SF moves. If you don't get processed in time, whether or not you'll be allowed to have an internship depends on the SF.

Anybody received their internship approval yet? Mine came in late, so I'm wondering when I might expect to hear back.

Thanks for the reply. I'll try to bug support about it and see if there's a workaround. If not, I guess I'll use something else.

Well our stipends are reported to the IRS on a 1099 and are absolutely declared taxable, so I would advise all recipients to classify them the same way the IRS does haha.

Has anybody had any issues reporting IRA contributions as they file their taxes? Credit Karma Tax is flagging my contribution as excess. I presume this is because we file a 1099-MISC, but I think stipends are supposed to be allowable income for IRA contributions as of last year (H.R. 1865 and the Gr...

It is non-compensatory "other income." Self-employment tax does not apply. You are not self-employed and you are not paid/compensated in proportion to or in exchange for any services performed. The income is most comparable to a stipend paid NOT in exchange for TA/RA services. I personally use Credi...

Yes, facility-dependent. Everything ranging from S to TS-SCI. Your facility will outline their security requirements during onboarding or perhaps the interview.

Make sure also to include the locality pay adjustment. With few exceptions, you should be able to find the exact pay table.